tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post114601918478686690..comments2023-10-30T04:16:25.917-04:00Comments on Sentient Developments: The myth of our exalted human placeGeorgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003484633933455827noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post-57393746825213043482008-07-06T11:00:00.000-04:002008-07-06T11:00:00.000-04:00Loved this post & couldn't agree more - thank you!...Loved this post & couldn't agree more - thank you!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post-1146615827162476332006-05-02T20:23:00.000-04:002006-05-02T20:23:00.000-04:00I have some things to say, other than that I am no...I have some things to say, other than that I am now in love with you.<BR/><BR/><I>Even in Nature, one animal eats another.</I><BR/><BR/>Uh, horses, anyone? Cows? The various other strictly herbivorous species in the world?<BR/><BR/><I>Surely we can observe the vast differences between humans and every other life form we know of.</I><BR/><BR/>Sure. Humans are the only ones that speak, specifically, English. However, the "differences", other than guaranteed physical differences, are not so sure. Other animals have been shown to have complex communications with one another; how do we say that this is not language? If this is language, how do we say that they cannot do many of the other previously taken for granted "human" things we do, like anticipating the future?<BR/><BR/>As it is, there are very few mental differences seen that should not be immediately written off as being humanocentric.<BR/><BR/><I>How do you justify humans eating animals for food, or all the animals displaced or extinct by humans?</I><BR/><BR/>Uh, we don't? We're fighting against that, in fact.<BR/><BR/><I>We all implicitly value humanity over other life just by existing as we do,</I><BR/><BR/>I disagree. I certainly don't, just as I don't value animal life more than human life. This is a cultural bias that you have subscribed to as universal, but it's not.<BR/><BR/><I>undisputed at the top of the food chain.</I><BR/><BR/>The term "food chain" is wrong and misleading. If anything, in a healthy ecosystem what should be occurring would be better described as a "food web", and humans certainly are not participating in one (see massive destruction of environment).<BR/><BR/><I>We shouldn't feel guity for that,</I><BR/><BR/>Denial, rationalisation. Yes, we should feel guilty for that, just as a sexist should feel guilty for putting one sex above the other; they don't, of course, but that's because they're bigots, like you are.<BR/><BR/><I>any more than the wolf should feel guilty for killing its prey.</I><BR/><BR/>First, a wolf is a he or a she, not an it. You clearly show your bigotry with this line.<BR/><BR/>Second, a wolf does not systematically raise and torture other beings, stripping them of everything that makes their lives worth living (social interaction, affection, sunlight, etc.)<BR/><BR/><I>Of course its not a magical covenant with god, its just the way things have turned out.</I><BR/><BR/>"Nature" as an excuse is no better than "god" as an excuse.<BR/><BR/><B>Now, for the author of the blog.</B><BR/><BR/>You yourself either seem to subscribe to the "only humans = people" mentality, or you slipped up in this post. Surely if humans do not inhabit a "sacred space", as it were, animals are just as entitled to the title of "person" as we are?Avian Mooch, or a Really Angry Cowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11604427451040587143noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post-1146547796278132352006-05-02T01:29:00.000-04:002006-05-02T01:29:00.000-04:00With respect to Martin Striz's hierarchical worldv...With respect to Martin Striz's hierarchical worldview, I disagree. <BR/><BR/>However, if we can begin to address this dilemma by agreeing that non-human primates deserve personhood and the attendant rights, then we'll at least be making some progress. <BR/><BR/>It'll still be speciesism, but the need to preserve -- or better yet, revive the population of -- our endangered relatives like orangutans is a bit more desperate at the moment than genetically engineered mice anyway...Erichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13982914222299822601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post-1146426772240862572006-04-30T15:52:00.000-04:002006-04-30T15:52:00.000-04:00Manual Trackback. This post is cited in Blogmandu...Manual Trackback. This post is cited in Blogmandu, <A HREF="http://zenunbound.com/2006/04/roundup-for-apr-23-29-2006.html" REL="nofollow">Roundup for Apr 23 - 29, 2006</A>.<BR/><BR/><I>In a post titled “The myth of our exalted human place,” George of Sentient Developments writes about the experiences that all sentient beings share AND about those in denial about what considerable pain is visited upon non-human animals by humans. George concludes his post, “it is when we consider the well-being of both human and non-human animals that we become truly humane.”</I>Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13718601770472939313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post-1146102186526273612006-04-26T21:43:00.000-04:002006-04-26T21:43:00.000-04:00I'm totally against deliberate cruelty to animals,...I'm totally against deliberate cruelty to animals, but this 'speciest' terminology is throwing me a bit. Surely we can observe the vast differences between humans and every other life form we know of. How do you justify humans eating animals for food, or all the animals displaced or extinct by humans? We all implicitly value humanity over other life just by existing as we do, undisputed at the top of the food chain. We shouldn't feel guity for that, any more than the wolf should feel guilty for killing its prey. Of course its not a magical covenant with god, its just the way things have turned out.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post-1146028562290059162006-04-26T01:16:00.000-04:002006-04-26T01:16:00.000-04:00Thought-pieces like this one (very well written bt...Thought-pieces like this one (very well written btw :-) make me feel guilty for eating meat. Yes, I could become a vegetarian, but: even in Nature, one animal eats another.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com